Historic Hong Kong Building 'Lui Seng Chun' Transforms into Chinese Medicine Centre
In Hong Kong, at the confluence of two major roads, stands the historic building 'Lui Seng Chun', built in 1931 and now serving as a Chinese medicine centre. The building uniquely combines Chinese and Western architectural styles.
Lui Seng Chun is an impressive 'tong lau' style building located on a triangular plot at the junction of two main roads in Hong Kong. It is currently operated by Hong Kong Baptist University as a Chinese medicine and healthcare centre.
The building was commissioned by Lui Leng, co-founder of the Kowloon Motor Bus company, and was completed in 1931. Architect W.H. Bourne designed it in a manner typical of that era, integrating Chinese and Western design elements, with neo-classical and Art Deco features visible throughout.
On the ground floor, eight granite columns create a covered walkway that sheltered the original entrance and shop frontage. Chinese characters for 'Lui Seng Chun' are engraved on a stone plaque on the top floor. Other design features, such as elegant curves, clean horizontal lines, deep verandahs, and decorative urn-shaped balustrades, are synonymous with Hong Kong's pre-war tenement buildings.
Adhering to the typical tong lau layout of 'commercial below, residential above', the Lui family ran a traditional Chinese medicine bone-setting clinic on the ground floor and used the upper storeys as living quarters.
After Lui Leng passed away in 1944, the shop and clinic closed down. The Lui family continued to live on the upper floors until the 1960s, with members gradually moving out until the building was completely vacated in the 1970s.
Having stood derelict for nearly 30 years, Lui Seng Chun was designated a Grade I historic building by the Antiquities Advisory Board in 2000. Three years later, the Lui family donated their ancestral home to the government, making it the first case of a historic building being handed over to the government for revitalisation. Hong Kong Baptist University was selected to conserve the building by converting it back into a Chinese medical facility.
